pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: response


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All the Time!

Being grateful for all of God’s blessings makes such a difference in our lives.  Every day, as part of my morning ‘routine’, I write in my ‘thanks journal.’  I write down at least five things I am thankful for from the day before and lift up a little prayer of thanksgiving to God.  It is important to me to recognize all God does for me.

In hospitals and hospice care they asses a person’s spiritual vitality by measuring the patients’ gratitude towards God.  Psychologists have identified gratitude as a powerful force in the lives of people who are healthy and resilient.  When one is truly thankful for the things one has in life, it shows in their attitude.

In life all is not roses.  Trials and sufferings will come.  These things are inevitable.  They are a part of life.  As with the Psalmist, we too know God is with us in both the good and the bad.  In the bad, God offers us relief from all sorts of suffering and oppression.  When we experience God’s liberation, or response is grateful praise.  The psalmist wrote, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  When we have an attitude of gratitude it is natural to want to share how good God is with others.

When our normal mode of operation is to recognize God as the giver of all good things, then we know Him as good and through this can better weather life’s storms.  In these times of trial we can go to God for peace, comfort, strength, … in prayer, in reading His Word, in worship.  When we know the Lord is good through our daily practice of gratitude, the darkness is not as deep and we know there is His light at the end of the trial.  God is good.  When we live and acknowledge this often, we are blessed by His presence all of the time, in both the good and the bad.

Scripture reference: Psalm 34: 1-8


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Bread of Life

Jesus, the bread of life, the bread of heaven, wants to feed us.  His food is for our spirits.   Jesus desires to pour into our hearts both to fill us with His joy and to sustain us in the hard days we all face.

The crowd in the story today is almost the same crowd who ate of the fishes and loaves the day before.  They have been physically fed by a miraculous work of Jesus and they are back wanting more.  Like us sometimes, they ask, “What must we do?”  But Jesus has no requirements.  There is no ticket to punch.  He simply wants to give us the bread of life.  Out of His great love for us, the gift of life is offered to all.

Jesus simply invites us into His presence to be fed.  We can ‘fill up’ in many ways – in worship, in prayer, in praise, in study.  At the table of the Lord we are fed.  His spirit and presence fill us up.  Oddly enough, over time we come to the place of desiring to offer our thanks. The ‘must’ becomes ‘can’ as we ask, “What can we do?”  As we are filled we come to want to share the bread of life with others through word, acts of mercy, and acts of kindness.This is our grateful response to Christ’s great love being poured into us.

As we ourselves continue to come to the bread of life, we grow to become more and more like Christ.  Out of His great love for us we are led to love others more.  In our churches, in our places of work or school, in our social settings, in or homes we will have opportunities to lead others to the table of our Lord.  This invitation is one of the greatest offers we can offer another.  This day may we find one who is lost and bring them to the table.

Scripture reference: John 6: 24-35


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God > world

Sometimes God picks people we least expect.  God sees in a way that we usually do not.  His vision for all that could be far exceeds our limited vision for the future and for the possibilities that could be.  His practice is also to develop those He selects.  He did not choose David and make him king immediately.  Over time God slowly developed this young shepherd.

Although God does not call you or me to be a great king, He calls us as surely as He called David, Moses, Abraham, Noah, Saul, Peter…  And He will continue to call us.  He will call as many times as it takes.  God has a purpose for our lives.  It may just to affect and witness to one person or it my be to many.  Maybe it is just to our family and a few friends.  We will never know until we faithfully respond to the call and step out in a faith that shows we know God is in control.  In a willing servant, the Holy Spirit can and will do a mighty work.

God also calls groups of people.  This could be a family, a small group, or a church.  The promise is that where two or more are gathered in His name, He will be present.  God has visions and plans for each of the groups we are in and especially for our churches.  While God desires our praise and worship, that is certainly not all that He calls the church to.  If it ends there our churches are just a shell of what they could be.  A faithful response is all the God seeks.  It is all He needs.  Like with David and many others, God will lay the groundwork, raise up and develop the right leaders, and will take us to great new ministries.  Holy Spirit come.  Lead us and our churches.  Come!

Scripture reference: 1 Samuel 16: 8-13